Making History: Allen, Abella assert themselves at district tournament

PROSPER -- Hearing Allen announced as the district golf champ is nothing new.

Wednesday, however, was a unique situation as it was the Allen boys that won the 8-5A title, raising the district trophy for just the second time in program history.

"This means the boys don't have to sit in the girls shadow anymore," said Karen Gravley, Allen head coach. "The boys work hard and always play their best, but you don't always get to see the fruits of those labors, especially in a district as tough as this, so it was great to see these boys set a goal and achieve it."

Their female counterparts were glad to see the victory as well.

"The girls were absolutely thrilled," Gravley said. "I don't think there is anyone more excited about this ... except of course for the boys themselves ... than our girls team."

Allen won the three-day event, which was completed Wednesday after torrential downpours and tornado warnings delayed the final nine holes, with a team score of 595. The Eagles' district-winning contingent was comprised of Justin Newby, Jake Clark, Drew Miller, Chris Ayres and Camden DeBonis. Clark paced the way on Day 1 with a tournament-best round of 68.

"That first day from Jake was phenomenal," Gravley said. "Jake came in focused; then he started picking up some birdies and the hole was looking really big to him."

Clark and Newby (143) tied for second, one stroke back of Plano East's Joseph Abella, who qualified for regionals for a third time by becoming the first Panthers linkster to win the district tournament.

"It was awesome," said Jon Engelking, East head coach. "Joseph played well, just like he always does. He's not fancy, but he hits a lot of fairways and a lot of greens.

"It was fun to watch.

Allen was nine strokes better than second-place Plano West, which also qualified for regionals. The Wolves (604) were seven shots ahead of third-pace Flower Mound (611) with the weather delay perhaps playing a factor.

West led Flower Mound by six shots after Monday's opening round.

"After the first nine holes of Round 2, the gap was really closing with Flower Mound," said Rick Hardison, West head coach. "In fact, I think they were about even."

Flower Mound head coach Dave Self saw the momentum shifting Tuesday as well.

"I really felt like we had momentum going into the back nine," he said. "Then the rain hit and kind of slowed us down. But at the same time, I feel like we played the best we had all year and that's really all you can ask for."

When play resumed Wednesday, West turned it on.

"We were a little tight those first three holes (Wednesday)," Hardison said, "but then the putts started to fall and we started to roll."

A second-round score of 303 pushed the West quintet of Marc Johnson (149, fourth); Trevor Komenda (150, tied for fifth); Jake Terry (151, seventh), Luke Thomas and Cody Hardison on to Lubbock. Flower Mound won't be lacking a presence there though as Wes Hunt tied for fifth. Hunt and Abella advanced on the strength of having the best two scores from non-qualifying teams.

"Wes did a great job," Self said. "He hung in there, kept clawing and was able to birdie that last hole."

That birdie put Hunt two shots better than the mass of players tied for eighth that included DeBonis, Hebron's David Cha, Flower Mound's Luke Almond and Plano Senior's Colin Morris.

Paced by Abella, East finished fourth, flipping spots with Flower Mound Marcus, which was fourth after Day 1 and felt a run at regionals was possible.

"My guys played about as well as could be expected," said Richard Miles, Marcus head coach, during Tuesday's weather delay. "But we've still got to play our very best and have a couple teams above us falter if we are going to make it."

Marcus finished fifth with its B team placing sixth and Plano in seventh.

Wednesday capped a varsity season for the Wildcats that included their first tourney win in a decade. Hebron, which was tied for fifth after Day 1, and Lewisville did not register final team scores after not completing play due to the weather delays.

"We improved our scoring average and we got better from last year," said Corey Coursey, Plano head coach. "It's all relative to who is in your district and we are part of a tough one, but we've also got the majority of our players coming back. It's taken three years for us to be competitive again, but I feel good about the direction we are headed."

The direction the Eagles, Wolves, Abella and Hunt are now headed is Lubbock with the Region I Boys Championship set for April 16-17 at Texas Tech's Rawls Course.

"We are looking forward to going back to Lubbock," Engelking said, "and I think Joseph has got a good shot of going to Austin."

Allen and West are taking both their boys and girls teams to regionals.

"The only other time we advanced both teams was in 2005 and 2006," Gravley said, "so this is just huge for us."

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